“What shall we do for our anniversary?" “Oh God, when is it?” Alice couldn’t believe she’d forgotten. Jim looked puzzled.“You’re kidding, right? Friday night, what do you want to do?” Alice laughed. “I knew that,” she lied. “How about the theatre? Cabaret’s on at the Rep. That girl’s in it. The one that won the thing on the tele.”“What girl? What thing? No, never mind. We’ll never get tickets at such short notice and I hate musicals.”“OK, what do you want to do?” “Anything you like, love. Your choice.” “I’ll have a think and we’ll talk about it at lunchtime then.” Alice picked up her briefcase and left for work. Jim cleared away the breakfast dishes and took the morning paper out into the garden.

Lunch

“I’ve got it. Let’s call Lucy and Steve and go to Luciano’s. We haven’t been out for Italian in ages.”The silence at the other end of the line was just a little too long, then,“Lucy’s a pain since she got pregnant. It’s all she ever talks about.”“OK. Not Lucy and Steve, then. Paul and Babs?”“Er, do we have to ask anybody else? It’s our anniversary, after all.”“Just the two of us, then? But Luciano’s is all right?”“Gotta go, hun. Doorbell. We’ll talk tonight.”Alice replaced the receiver and returned her attention to her computer screen.

Dinner

“You’re a great cook, Jim. That chicken was so good. Do you think we should make a reservation for Friday, or will they fit us in?”“Fit us in where?” Jim was clearing the table. Alice sighed. It was always like this.“At the restaurant, for our anniversary.”“Do we have to eat out? I mean, you’ve just said what a great cook I am. I’ve got this new recipe I’ve been dying to try out. We could eat at home - a nice romantic dinner for two.” He was pleading. She smiled.“OK. Then you can take me dancing after dinner.”Jim loaded the dishwasher.

Friday Night

“You look drop-dead gorgeous.” Jim was grinning as he poured the last of the red wine into Alice’s glass. “Happy anniversary, darling.”“And the same to you, now where are we going dancing, to finish off the evening?”Jim took her hand.“I know a much better way to finish off the evening than dancing,” he said.Needless to say, he didn’t.